Chad Blakley (lightsoverlapland.com) captured imagery of the powerful geomagnetic storm over Abisko National Park on March 17th, 2013. The Moon, light cloud cover and dancing auroras made for quite a show.

The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory's Helio-Seismic and Magnetic Imager snapped imagery of the Sun during a time that was predicted to be part of Solar Maximum (the peak of the 11 year cycle of solar activity). Activity is lower than expected.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has entered eclipse season, where the Earth is blocking the Sun from the spacecraft's vantage point. Shortly after the Sun was in full view again, an M1.2 flare popped from Earth-facing sunspot AR1686.

Maximum solar activity (increased amounts of sun flares, sunspots, prominences and coronal mass ejections) is cyclic. 2013 should be the 11-year peak but the Sun is not presenting that way. Researchers think twin peaks may carry into 2014.

Chad Blakley (lightsoverlapland.com) captured the dance of the northern lights over Abisko National Park on February 11th, 2013. It has been a very active aurora season around the world due to the peak of the solar cycle.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory has completed the third year of its mission to provide scientists not only with stunningly detailed images of our sun, but a wealth of data that will help further our understanding of the sun-Earth system.